More Flying Corvids

Thought I would do another post on some flying corvids given that they are such a great photographic subject.Whilst trying to capture photographs of my main target, the Jay, I also get visits from other birds such as Magpies and Carrion Crows.

The Jays are on the bottom rung of a distinct pecking order ladder of these three crow species. As such, there are always some opportunities to photograph these other birds whilst waiting for the feeding area to become clear. Both the crows and magpies are easier to photograph than the jays as they are more predictable in their flight patterns. The main issue is one of getting the exposure of the photograph right in the good light needed for flight photography.  For the non-photographers reading this that means trying to finely balance the camera settings to changing light conditions to maintain detail in both the blacks and whites parts of these birds. Birds that are both black and white being at either end of the 'light spectrum' can present quite a challenge to capture correctly. Of course as I have said before the magpie is not really a black and white bird but the back of the wings has an iridescent blue sheen and a green tail that ends in a purple dominated rainbow of colour. Despite their much maligned reputation, there is no denying that the magpie is a very attractive bird when looked at carefully.

Another occasional visitor is the Wood Pigeon. Interestingly these birds stand their ground to all at the feeding area except Carrion Crow.

Of course the real star of the show and the main reason why I started this whole project so long ago, is the Jay.

Air brakes fully engaged before the final landing flip.

 Fly-bys with full downbeat wing extension. Of course given the nature of jay flight you inevitably end up with quite a few photographs with no wings showing and it just appears like a flying rocket.

Sometimes it nice to pull back a bit and show a bit more habitat, especially when there is the lovely rusty coloured hues of old beech leaves in the frame.

Possibly my favourite photograph of the recent return to Project J is the one below which shows the bird in its fully flying glory whilst calling.

Its now time to put 'Project J' back to bed for a while as Spring is starting to develop and my thoughts will turn to other subjects. Its a joy now to walk back along the local coastal strip and hear the sky filled once again with tumbling liquid song of skylarks. I have a few photography projects in mind for Spring and Summer. In two months it will be time to jet off  as I am returning to the Danube Delta once more. I am really looking forward to the trip as on this visit I will be spending the entire week in the Delta  including a new area recently opened up to visitors in the north where amongst the bird life, I am hoping to put some golden jackal in front of the camera. So some exciting times ahead which as always will be a pleasure to share with you.

Glimpses of Light

Many of you will have probably guessed from my recent posts that the light, which is the essence of photography, has been in drastically short supply over the past few weeks. There have been the occasional bright days and moments but typically they have coincided with me being otherwise occupied with work. There are few things more frustrating than looking at the sunlight pouring through the office window on a week day only to see the weather suddenly flick to dark grey gloom for the following entire weekend. To try and overcome these light issues and get some photographs taken, I have tried to keep my camera with me as much as possible. This has been mainly to try and stack the odds in my favour when those glimpses of better light do occasionally show. So this Blog post is a compilation of species arising from snatched moments of light since the beginning of the year.

I managed to find a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits at the edge of the ebbing tide at the end of the road where I live. A quick dash down the hill was made as the sun briefly appeared.

A large flock of Bewick's Swans, which are unusual for my local area, gathered on some flooded agricultural fields. These wild swans are a very different proposition for photography than the loaf munching variety on the local park lake. They are very nervous birds and required a careful approach.

While on the topic of swans I stopped briefly on the way home from work last week to find this Mute Swan in the fading embers of sunset. Its good to see the day lengths are slowly starting to draw outwards.

I caught up with one of the Common Buzzards that lurks near the office. Perched in its regular location during a lunch hour last week. They are certainly a species of habit and routine.

I have been keeping up with the various Corvids that I love to photograph and kept my couple of feeding sites going. This has the benefit that the birds quickly appear, after I do, which is ideal for my often very brief visits.
A Jay taking an apparently perilous dive towards the ground.

A rather tatty looking Magpie coming in to land. I suspect this one has had a few run-ins with the local crows. It is interesting at these corvid feeding sites to watch the pecking order between species. At this particular site the order of dominance is crow, magpie and then jay.

A gentle touch-down by a Rook.

There has been an increasing presence of Wood Pigeon at one of the feeding sites. Some of which are starting to look very well fed!

To finish off this post of making the most of limited moments of light, an early morning encounter with a Meadow Pipit on the beach.

The signs of Spring are on the way with the first migrants in the form of Northern Wheatear arriving in the south of the UK heralding the sign of an exciting bird photography days ahead over the next 3 months.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

With the UK gripped in a prolonged blast from the Arctic, where I live has managed to remain fairly free of snow. That was until I tried to get home from my work Christmas party last Friday and 6 inches fell very quickly and hampered my already slightly 'wobbly' journey home. Having given over the next day to the inevitable heavy head, I was out bright and early on the following morning layered up with thermals and with the car thermometer reading -10 degrees C. While we are in this lengthy cold spell can I urge people to help out their local wildlife with some supplementary food and particularly water. Even if it is just a couple of bird feeders in the garden or some apples thrown on the lawn for the winter thrushes.

A layer of snow generates some incredible light with its glowing reflection lighting up the underside of the birds and animals. I decided to head to my local woods where some action would be guaranteed and ended up laying on the ground next to a fallen tree. However, I stopped off by the coast on route to photograph some Black-headed Gulls, a real camera exposure headache.

I also managed to locate amongst the flock, a Mediterranean Gull which was even more difficult to spot than usual with the white conditions.

On arrival at the woods, typically the first bird to come and investigate was a robin.

The other bird species were a little slow in coming forth that morning but gradually numbers increased. Magpies were the first to investigate the free food supply and bickered amongst themselves.

They were eventually joined by a small flock of Stock Dove and Wood Pigeon, although these maintained some distance from the Magpie mayhem.

With various parts of my anatomy going increasing numb in the bitter cold I decided it was time to finish off the session with a few Grey Squirrels. They seemed to be very appreciative of the free food supply.

I will finish this post with some season greetings by warmly wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Healthy 2011.

Pigeons and Doves

I have been getting a few pigeon and dove shots during January and so thought I would combine them in to a post. I guess they are a group of birds that does not receive a great deal of attention due to being a common sight.

Starting with the largest UK species the Wood Pigeon taken in some very gloomy conditions.

I often use feral pigeons for practicing my flight photography and what may seem easy actually presents quite a challenge. Here on with the 'landing gear' down.
and a less common coloured one flying past.

I currently have 6 collared doves regularly visiting the backgarden and its good to see some activitiy with it being generally quite for birds there at the moment.Moving over to local woodland, I took a trip out yesterday hoping to get some stock dove photographs. I managed a couple but feel the need to return to get some more.

Winter Woodlands

Winter deciduous woodlands are wonderful places to photograph. The leaves off the trees create improved lighting conditions and the ground cover of autumn leaves can create some great colours in the shots. Here are a selection of recent shots taken from a local woodland where the birds are relatively accustomed to visitors.

I was concentraing on three main target species which were Jay, Stock Dove and Nuthatch. However, before getting to some shots of them, there were plenty of magpies to also distract the attention. This shot shows some of the warm background colours that can be created by the leaf fall.

During the quiet periods there were usually plenty of Grey Squirrels, and Wood Pigeon nearby to keep the shutter finger exercised.

Nuthatch keep you on your toes as they tend to dash in grab a piece of food and fly off to bury it under some bark, before returning. I need to do a bit more work on the Stock Doves

I had three very obliging Jays, in the area of woodland I chose, and so I end up with a good variety of shots. I will post a couple of shots of them for now and dedicate my next post to some more photos of these beautiful birds.

Out the Back Door

The weather has continued to be poor so to keep the shutter finger exercised I have been taking a few shots in the back garden from the shelter of the kitchen. This Wood Pigeon photograph sums up the recent weather.

Other current visitors at the moment are a pair of Collared Doves which seem quite aggressive towards all other pigeons that come into the garden.

There are large numbers of young birds from this year's broods now visiting the garden with the main two species being goldfinch.

and in the last few days some young blue tits.